Winston Truman McKenzie (born 23 October 1953) is a British politician, perennial candidate for office and former boxer, notable for having joined every major political party and having stood as an Independent or minor party candidate on numerous occasions without success. He stood in the 2010 UK Independence Party (UKIP) leadership contest and was the UKIP candidate in the 2012 Croydon North by-election, where he came third with 5.7% of the vote.

McKenzie was originally a middleweight boxer and was the All England National Amateur Boxing Champion, he is an older brother of boxer Duke McKenzie, and a younger brother of boxer Clinton McKenzie. He contended that after an underprivileged childhood, "boxing was my salvation".[1] However, his boxing career was cut short at the age of 23 by two detached retinas.[2]

He later worked as a hairdresser, a rug wholesaler, a letting agent and a garage mechanic. He also ran a pub in Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath, with his brothers. When the McKenzies bought the pub, it had "a notorious reputation...as a 'battleground' rife with gangsters and drug pushers until the brothers took over."[3] They opened it as the McKenzie Bros Bar & Grill, but it was threatened with removal of its licence in July 2001 "after being caught several times by police serving alcohol after hours."[3] It finally closed down in December 2002, after a single police raid resulted in 25 people on the premises all being charged with various drugs and firearms offences. The pub was boarded up after the raid, and in January 2003, Winston McKenzie confirmed it would not be reopening. The building has subsequently been demolished.[4][5] In 2005, he unsuccessfully auditioned for The X Factor.[6] He is now a youth worker.

McKenzie first joined the Labour Party in the 1980s.[7] In 2002, he joined the Liberal Democrats and, in February 2003, was quoted in the press as saying "I'm still very involved with the Liberal Democrats and have every intention of standing for MP in the next election."[4] Seven months later, by the September 2003 Brent East by-election, he had left the Liberal Democrats and he stood as an Independent candidate, on a slogan of "The black voice for Great Britain" and a platform to "shut all gates of entry to immigrants and asylum seekers" (with the USA being asked to take on Britain's immigrants in exchange for Britain's support in the Iraq War), and increasing sports facilities for young people. He also opposed university tuition fees on the grounds that young people should be able "to enjoy the privileges of childhood."[8] He polled 197 votes (0.94%), coming seventh out of 16 candidates.[9]

In 2005, McKenzie joined the newly formed Veritas party, calling for "a blanket ban on immigration and asylum for one year",[10] and becoming its principal spokesman on sport.[7] In the 2005 general election, he stood for Veritas in Croydon North, coming seventh of nine candidates with 324 votes (0.7%). After the election, he attacked party leader Robert Kilroy-Silk, whom he publicly blamed for his defeat, lost deposit and other financial losses as a result of his campaign.[11] He resigned from Veritas two weeks after the 2005 election (and three months after originally joining), before then rejoining Veritas when Kilroy-Silk stepped down as leader, so that he could stand for leader of Veritas. He came third out of three candidates, polling 168 votes (14.4%).[12] In between his two short memberships of Veritas, he stood in the 16 June 2005 Fieldway by-election to Croydon Council as an Independent. He came fourth of five candidates, polling 47 votes (2.47%) and beating only the candidate for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.[12][13]

After the local press reported his 2004 "inaugural Croydon youth games ended in farce [in] October after many events were cancelled at short notice",[10] he had accused the local Conservative council of being "racist" in failing to support the endeavour.[12] However, in November 2006 he joined the Conservative party, announcing his intention to be the next Mayor of London. He stood in 2007 for the Conservative party's nomination, but failed to attract enough support to make the shortlist. He then left the Conservative Party by the end of the year and stood in the 2008 Mayoral election as an independent candidate, under the slogans "I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee; I've got the policies they can't see" and "They said it couldn't be done".[1] He came last of the 10 candidates, polling 5,389 votes (0.22%).[2]

In March 2009, McKenzie founded the Unity Party and announced he would be the Unity Party candidate for Croydon Central at the next UK general election.[14] In October 2009, McKenzie reported that Unity had folded as a party because of the withdrawal of its main financial backer.[15]

In September 2009, he joined the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and immediately announced he was a candidate in their leadership election to succeed Nigel Farage. However, as he was still the leader of the Unity Party, he was barred from standing in the leadership election.[16] In February 2010, McKenzie was adopted as UKIP's candidate for Tottenham.[17] In the 2010 general election he came sixth of 10 candidates in Tottenham, polling 466 votes (1.1%).[18]

In May 2011, Mckenzie confirmed that he was again seeking to be Mayor of London, this time seeking the UKIP nomination - he told UKIP paper The Voice: "The rumours are true. I am definitely looking to be nominated as a candidate."[21] There were five other candidates for the UKIP nomination: David Coburn, Michael Corby, Mick McGough, Paul Oakley and Lawrence Webb. In a ballot of members in August, 2011 McKenzie came joint third with Mick McGough, both on 7.4%, behind winner Lawrence Webb, who won with 42%, and David Coburn on 29%.[22]

In January 2012, UKIP announced that it had selected McKenzie as candidate for the Croydon and Sutton seat in the 2012 elections to theGreater London Assembly.[22] At the pre-election hustings in Croydon, a local newspaper reported that "he provided the audience with some welcome, but not always intentional, comic relief". When the issue of the building of a new waste incinerator was raised he announced "To be honest, ref, I'm not too hot on this issue", and the paper noted that he did not have "the first clue about the incinerator debate" and had a "lack of policies". He also bizarrely stated: "A couple of people in the audience to-night, I can see your faces. I owe you money... You know where to find me."[23] In the election, he polled 10,757 votes (6.99%) across the boroughs of Croydon and Sutton, an increase of 1.6% on the UKIP vote in 2008, coming fourth of five candidates.[24]

In October 2012, he was announced as the UKIP candidate for the Croydon North by-election. On 27 November 2012, McKenzie gave two interviews to the Croydon Advertiser and the London Metro which were subsequently repeated in the local[25][26][27][28] and national[29][30] press, in which he was reported to have commented that adoption by same-sex couples constitutes "child abuse", and asked the interviewer, "If you couldn't look after your child and you had to put them up for adoption, would you honestly want your child to be adopted by a gay couple? Would you seriously want that or a heterosexual family? Which would be more healthy for the child? A caring loving home is a heterosexual or single family. I don't believe [a same-sex couple] is healthy for a child."[29] The comments were condemned by Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive of Stonewall, as "inflammatory",[29] while UKIP distanced itself from the comments.[26] The original Croydon Advertiser interview also described as "a bizarre rant" McKenzie's related comments about people who "pretend" to be gay: "Some people take on being gay as a sort of fashion. Celebrities come out to become more well known, it gets attention. It's a fact of life that some people actually are gay. They are what they are. They can't help it but the other bunch take on being gay as a fashion and push it because they have nothing better to do with their lives. They let the side down."[25] The subsequent Metro interview, held to clarify McKenzie's earlier remarks, quoted him as elaborating: "To say to a child, 'I am having you adopted by two men who kiss regularly but don't worry about it' – that is abuse. It is a violation of a child’s human rights because that child has no opportunity to grow up under normal circumstances."[28]

In the subsequent Croydon North by-election, McKenzie came third with 5.7% of the vote. He also retained his deposit for the first time in his political career.[22]

In campaigning for the 2014 local and European elections, a UKIP event organised in Croydon was picketed by protestors angry at Farage's recent comments on Romanian immigrants and bearing a placard reading "We Are Romanians". McKenzie said that the protesters had "diminished the meaning of racism.... They've taken away the meaning of racism, which is a very potent subject."[31] A steel band had been booked to play at the event but pulled out when they learnt that it was a UKIP event.[31] Farage had been due to attend but did not arrive, with McKenzie informing reporters that "He's a responsible family man and political party leader. Certain situations you have to avoid," before adding that "Croydon is unsafe and a dump."[31] He was not elected to Croydon council.[32]

McKenzie is the UKIP candidate for Croydon North in the 2015 general election. He had previously been Chairman of the Lambeth and Croydon North branch of UKIP, but was suspended on 19 December 2014 after "months of infighting" and accusations that he had misappropriated donations.[33]

Asked to name his proudest achievements, McKenzie said, "Of all the things in life that one could possibly achieve, I guess I am proud of the honour, dignity and self-respect that I have earned throughout the years through boxing, politics and the love of my former wife, Cheryl."[34]